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How to Frost a Layer Cake
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Sep 6, 2024
In this cake decorating tutorial I'll show you how to frost a cake with perfectly smooth buttercream or any other frosting. 0:00 Introduction to smooth frosting on cakes 0:18 The secrets for smooth frosting 0:30 The right consistency for buttercream for frosting cakes 1:40 The technique for how to frost a cake with smooth frosting 3:43 How to use a plastic cake comb to smooth frosting on a cake 5:26 How to use a metal cake comb to smooth frosting on a cake 5:47 Sharp angles on a cake 7:15 How to frost a cake with smooth frosting 🎥PART 1 of this tutorial: How to Make Layer Cakes https://youtu.be/IRZuwejAlZw 🎥PART 2 of this tutorial: How to Crumb Coat a Cake https://youtu.be/XJbO09-G4CA 💫Start your FREE 7 day trial on my cake school https://britishgirlbakes.teachable.com/p/all-you-can-cake/ 🎂LEARN The Basics of Cake and The Basics of Buttercream in my most popular online courses! https://britishgirlbakes.teachable.com/
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, welcome back in this video I'm going to show you how to get perfectly smooth frosting on your cakes
0:06
In parts one and two of this tutorial, I showed you how to prepare cake layers and how to assemble them
0:12
And then how and why to do a crumb coat. Now let's dive into smooth frosting
0:18
The secrets for perfectly smooth frosting are to have a cake that has been assembled and crumb coated and chilled correctly
0:25
The next thing is to have the perfect consistency of your butter cream. and finally the right technique
0:31
Let's start with buttercream consistency. I like to use gel colors to tint it
0:36
because they're more concentrated than liquid colors so they won't make the butter cream watery
0:41
As you mix the colors in, you'll notice a lot about the consistency. It's too stiff if it's difficult to stir
0:47
and if it's tearing as you stir, breaking apart from itself and creating these little air pockets
0:54
And you can see lots of little lines of texture within the butter cream because it's thick
0:58
and stiff. You can thin out buttercream by adding milk, just a spoonful at a time
1:05
The other option is to scoop out about a third of the buttercream and put it into a microwave
1:10
safe bowl. And then you're going to microwave this for just 10 seconds. Until it looks like this
1:16
it's going to be very runny and melted. And when you pour that into your butter cream
1:21
it will thin out the thick, stiff butter cream. And the two consistencies will mix together to make a silky
1:28
smooth buttercream perfect for frosting a cake. Staring it will also knock out any air bubbles in the
1:34
buttercream. Can you see how much smoother this is than it was before? Okay now for the technique. You're
1:42
going to need an offset spatula and also a cake comb. I like to use both a plastic and a metal one
1:48
but I'll show you all that later. Start by dumping some buttercream onto the top of your cake
1:52
and smoothing it to cover the top of the surface and you want it to stick out over the sides as well and that going to help you get really nice sharp angles later Hold your offset spatula at a 45 degree angle and spin the cake to flatten the frosting on top
2:08
and then whisk the spatula away and scoop up more butter cream and spread it onto the cake
2:14
I like to start at the top of the sides, spreading from side to side like this
2:19
and at this point you're just covering the whole cake so that you're just covering the whole cake so that you can't see the crumb coat anywhere
2:25
Not worrying at all about how smooth this frosting is, but you are aiming for an even thickness eventually
2:32
so if the frosting seems thinner in some parts, you can add a bit more there now
2:37
or go back and add more later. If your frosting is the right consistency
2:42
like this buttercream is, you'll be able to spread it on easily, meaning it will transfer easily from your spatula
2:48
onto the crumb coat of the cake. Your spatula will glide, over it as you spread from side to side, leaving a smooth surface behind, not lots of tears or
2:58
air bubbles or texture. Go all the way down to the bottom of the cake, covering up the crumb coat
3:04
right down to the cakeboard, so you can't see the crumb coat anywhere on the cake. Once it's all
3:10
covered up, check the evenness of this frosting. On my cake, the frosting looks thicker at the bottom
3:17
than the top, so I'm going back up to the top and spreading some more buttercream over that part
3:22
Around the top of the cake, as you're spreading the butter cream on, you want to push diagonally upwards to make the frosting stick up above the top edge of the cake
3:33
This lip or wall that you can see around the top edge is really important so that you can get sharp angles from the sides to the top later and you'll see that in just a minute
3:43
Switch to your cake comb and to do this you going to want to reach as far around as you can with your left hand or your non hand so that you see that that you can get a really long spin on your turntable Hold your cake comb on the cake board pressing down to line it up straight push it slowly against the cake and then spin the cake on its turntable
4:05
and you'll be able to scrape all the way around the cake because you reached so far around the
4:10
turn table. Swipe away and then scrape this butter cream back into your bowl
4:16
and there should be no crumbs in it because you'd let the crumb coat set, so it's okay to reuse this buttercream for touch-ups later
4:23
After scraping around the cake two or three times with your cake comb
4:27
you'll see where the frosting is thinner, in areas like here, around the middle of the cake
4:33
Spread some more frosting over those parts, and any little indents, like down here too
4:38
because for smooth frosting, what you're really aiming for is for all of the frosting to be the same thickness
4:44
so that it's flat or level, going up and down and around the cake
4:48
and then when you scrape around the cake again, you'll take off the excess and leave a smooth surface behind
4:55
Do these touch-ups as many times as you need to, spreading on more frosting to fill in any shallow areas
5:00
and then scraping around the cake to smooth the frosting. Now let me show you why I like to use a metal cake comb
5:07
as well as this plastic one. The plastic comb is quick to use
5:12
and I like the lightweight feel and flexibility, but it gets dinged along the edge easily by knocking
5:18
or dropping it. And those bumps in the straight edge of the comb drag along the frosting
5:23
and leave trails behind, which you can see here and here. And it's at this point that I like
5:29
to switch to a metal cake comb because the edge doesn't get damaged as easily and you can heat it
5:36
so that as you scrape around the cake, it melts the very outer layer of frosting and drags it
5:42
around the cake to fill in any imperfections, leaving a super smooth surface on the frosting. When the
5:48
sides are smooth it time to tidy up the top edge where the frosting is sticking up above the top of the cake I use my offset spatula for this and it needs to be clean so wipe any buttercream off it before you use it
6:01
When you're tidying up the top edge, it's really important to push sideways
6:05
Don't push down at all, or you'll create a bulge in the sides of the frosting around the cake
6:10
As you push sideways, you'll push this butter cream across the top of the cake and lift it off on your spatula
6:16
Scrape it back into your bowl, wipe the spatula clean on a towel or paper towel
6:22
so there's no frosting on the blade, and then spin the cake to do the same for the next section of the cake
6:28
Look what happens if you don't spread your frosting high enough. There are gaps in the frosting, where it's thinner or shallower
6:36
which will become indents in the top edge if I leave them like this
6:39
So instead, spread some more butter cream onto the indent, on top and on the side of the cake
6:45
and then scrape around the cake again with your cake comb to smooth this touch-up frosting on the side of the cake
6:52
and swipe sideways with your offset spatula to flatten and smooth it on top of the cake too
6:59
After you swipe sideways all around the top of the cake, to take off this buttercream that's sticking up
7:06
you can go around the cake and swipe again anywhere where you swiped higher up
7:10
so that the edges straight and level all the way around the cake
7:15
So super smooth frosting on a cake using three tricks. The cake needs to be assembled, crumb coated and chilled correctly
7:24
and I showed how to do those steps in the previous two videos in this series. The buttercream needs to be the perfect consistency
7:30
and you need to have the right technique. If you have any questions, ask me in the comments
7:35
Subscribe to my channel for a new cake decorating tutorial every week and visit my cake school on British Girl Bakes.com
7:41
to learn hundreds of cake decorating designs and techniques. much for watching
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